The Great Controversy a Present Reality

The age-old battle between Christ and Satan, good and evil, is always being waged. Each new generation experiences this spiritual war, and new satanic challenges to truth occur which are designed by him to deceive and to destroy God's people. As I look around me and take in the Great Controversy, 2011 edition, I am reminded that there are sides being taken by God's people. The remnant church is being sifted and shaken mightily. God is drawing a line of righteousness. He is drawing His people into a fuller and more consecrated experience, while the enemy Satan is pulling God's people away from truth and integrity. I've heard it said that there is a polarization taking place in the Adventist Church, due to traditional Adventism being preached. If that is the case, the straight message of the True Witness, Jesus Christ, is what is causing the separation. People are taking sides. They are making choices either for Christ or against Christ in their everyday lives.

Here is a simple yet valid way of summarizing the two sides--the two groups of people--in this Great Controversy: 

The Side of Jesus: A love for the truth; a love for Scripture; a love for Spirit of Prophecy; a love for God that is stronger than any other claim to one's affection or allegiance; a delight in God's law; a respectful fear of God; a longing for heaven; a longing for holiness; a strong desire to share one's faith, including the warning message God committed to the Seventh-day Adventist Church; a strong desire to help those in need; a steady strategy to draw family and friends into the safety of the remnant church; a ready acceptance of God's counsels on diet and health; a cherishing of the Sabbath and a guarding of its sacred hours; a disdain for anything unbiblical or anything that blends truth with error; a desire to not partake of this world's evil while reaching this world; a willingness to admonish a brother or sister when they are making decisions against the Lord; an active prayer life; a daily reading of Scripture; a regular reading of Spirit of Prophecy; full surrender to Jesus/conversion; a dislike of violence, competition, magic, mysticism, immorality, and dishonesty. 

The Side of Satan: A disregarding or relativizing of the truth; a love for only those portions of Scripture which do not condemn one's lifestyle; a minimizing of the importance of the Spirit of Prophecy or outright denial of the validity of the Spirit of Prophecy for modern Adventists; a tendency to place a love of God on the same level as filial or romantic love; confused priorities; a relegation of God's law to the Old Covenant or merely that which leads us to the cross; a lack of the fear of God; a coziness with the comforts/thrills/entertainment/possessions of this earth; an equating of holiness with legalism; a strong desire to share one's faith, but limiting the sharing to non-doctrinal and non-testing-truth; a disdain for the concept of "remnant"; a strong desire to help those in need (but not making an effort to bring them into God's remnant); equating of diet and health reform with legalism, and regularly embibing caffeinated beverages and eating whatever tastes good; a careless observance of the Sabbath, complete with shopping, sports, business; not noticing or caring when truth is blended with error; an embracing of this world's violence, competition, magic, mysticism, immorality, and dishonesty; a keen desire to be accepted by other faith groups and to be like them; a equating of admonishing with judging and therefore avoiding it; a sporadic prayer life; a sporadic, surface-level reading of Scripture; a regular reading of non-Adventist books and blogs; a lack and procrastination of full surrender to Jesus; an absence of conversion.

The devil hates the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and he will do whatever he can to keep us off of the Lord's side, while still calling ourselves Adventists. He knows that he can get far more usage out of us if we are living as we please and professing to be members of the remnant church.

The sides are being drawn, brothers and sisters. Which side are you on?